The relationship between instruction and instructional design is explored. The aim of instruction is to assist the individual as learner. The Learner, the Content, the Media, the Teacher Function, and the Context within which learning is to occur interact during a period of time to form an instructional episode (the CMT paradigm). Considering all these interrelationships demonstrates the complexity of the learning process. Instructional design is the planning phase of the instructional creation process. Instructional design is both descriptive, in that it presents relationships, and prescriptive, in that it recommends organization of information based on known characteristics of the learner, the teacher, or the context. The practice of instructional design focuses on organization, strategies, and tactics that are supported by principles on which instructional improvement can be built. Teachers sometimes fear that a systems approach to instructional design will restrict creativity, but such an approach actually promotes creativity because of the dynamic attributes of the systems process. Three figures illustrate the discussion. (Contains 14 references.) (SLD)